OBAMA'S ZIG AND ZAG: 'It is in the national security interests of the United States to respond.I have a deeply held preference for peaceful solutions' -- BILL DE BLASIO WINS NYC MAYORAL PRIMARY

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BE SURE TO TELL YOUR KIDS why 9/11 matters. Twelve years ago this morning, the lead story of The New York Times, by Alison Mitchell and Dick Stevenson, was: “KEY LEADERS TALK OF POSSIBLE DEALS TO REVIVE ECONOMY: BUSH IS UNDER PRESSURE – Lott Open to More Tax Cuts – Democrat Sees Temporary Dip into Social Security.” See the page. http://bit.ly/1aBUawT

THE ROAD AHEAD – Jonathan Allen: “By the time the president addressed the nation on Tuesday night, much of official Washington had fallen in love with the idea of a diplomatic solution inducing Syria to give up its chemical weapons. That’s because Obama pushed the Syria problem back across the water’s edge – at least for now – giving himself and Congress hope that they won’t have to order up military strikes that remain deeply unpopular. So, while Washington is still deeply divided on the question of whether Congress should authorize another war, the risk-averse political class is clearly unified in its hope that someone else will solve the problem. … [S]ome Republicans embraced the administration’s view that Assad will only give up his weapons if he faces the threat of a military assault. And in both chambers, lawmakers drafted resolutions that would authorize the president to launch military strikes against Syria if President Bashar Assad’s regime does not relinquish its chemical weapons. …

“‘Linking the authorization of force to the failure of Syria to get rid of their chemical weapons is a very powerful resolution,’ Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said. … The impending failure of that first resolution, an unconditioned authorization for Obama to use force in Syria, created an incentive for Obama to start plotting an exit strategy — and a reason for an ambivalent Congress to follow him. But even as attention turned to diplomacy, and the Senate postponed its planned test vote on a version of the war resolution, Kerry and top administration officials continued to press lawmakers to authorize strikes in Syria. Vice President Joe Biden met with nine House Republicans at the White House Tuesday morning – the first such session for members of the House GOP … Obama met separately with the Republican and Democratic caucuses in the Senate in the afternoon and was well-received …

“[T]here was a wink-and-nod quality to most of the public comments made by members of Congress who were relieved not to have to make an immediate decision about the use of military force. Even some in the president’s own party say he stumbled into a solution — and one that might slip quickly through his fingers — when he switched courses and decided to ask Congress to authorize strikes rather than launching them on his own. ‘I can’t understand what he was thinking,’ said one House Democrat. ‘He should have done it, gone on television and said “This is why I did it.”’” http://politi.co/1eCTO8m

CNN INSTANT POLL – Political Editor Paul Steinhauser: “61% said they support the president's position on Syria, with 37% saying they oppose his response to the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons against its own citizens.” http://bit.ly/18Pcm0l

WHITE HOUSE TWEETS BACK – Dylan Byers: “In messages directed at journalists from The New York Times, Bloomberg and other outlets, the White House communications team sought to wrest control of the narrative … ‘Maybe it would have been better to have postponed the speech along with the vote,’ wrote Jeffrey Goldberg, the Bloomberg View columnist. “… White House Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes responded to Goldberg’s tweet by writing, ‘US position remains Assad leaving power as part of political process. But we must also act to specifically remove CW [chemical weapons] threat.’ …

“White House press secretary Jay Carney tweeted quotes from Obama’s speech — ‘Getting the word out by all available means!,’ he tweeted at one reporter for his alma mater, TIME magazine — and Dan Pfeiffer, Obama senior advisor, tried to counter journalists who argued that Obama’s speech was ‘old news.’ ‘[W]e don’t assume the public follows the news as closely as leading political columnists,’ Pfeiffer wrote to The Las Vegas Sun’s Jon Ralston. … ‘He should have postponed,’ Goldberg told POLITICO. ‘Basically he said — our military is ready; John Kerry is going to Geneva, and poison gas is very bad.’”

PRESIDENT OBAMA, in the East Room at 9:01 p.m.: “I've spent four and a half years working to end wars, not to start them. … [O]ver the last few days, we’ve seen some encouraging signs. … It’s too early to tell whether [the Russian] offer will succeed, and any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments. But this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force, particularly because Russia is one of Assad’s strongest allies. I have, therefore, asked the leaders of Congress to postpone a vote to authorize the use of force while we pursue this diplomatic path. …

“[T]o my friends on the right, I ask you to reconcile your commitment to America’s military might with a failure to act when a cause is so plainly just. To my friends on the left, I ask you to reconcile your belief in freedom and dignity for all people with those images of children writhing in pain, and going still on a cold hospital floor. For sometimes resolutions and statements of condemnation are simply not enough. … America is not the world’s policeman. Terrible things happen across the globe, and it is beyond our means to right every wrong. But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act. That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional.” YouTubehttp://bit.ly/17VJx24

MAUREEN DOWD, “Who Do You Trust?”: “The president countered Kerry’s second slip with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie Monday night, declaring that “The U.S. does not do pinpricks,” which Kerry parroted at the hearing Tuesday, declaring that “We don’t do pinpricks.” For good measure, Obama, in his address to the nation Tuesday night, made sure the world knew: “The United States military doesn’t do pinpricks.” http://nyti.ms/1b3y1XI

JOHN F. HARRIS, “Obama’s Zig vs. Zag: “Two weeks of zig-zag foreign policy by President Obama — marching to war one moment, clinging desperately to diplomacy the next — culminated Tuesday night, appropriately enough, in a zig-zag address to the nation … The speech began with an earnest statement on behalf of Zig, a sober appreciation that military power has its limits … But it was followed the next paragraph by some piercingly indignant words making the case for Zag, the conviction that conscience and the obligations of global leadership sometimes require America to act. … [P]erhaps the most disingenuous line … in the 16-minute speech [was] the president [claim] that he had asked Congress to postpone the vote that he earlier requested authorizing use of military force in Syria in order to let the latest diplomatic moves play out. But just a minute earlier he had asserted that a main reason diplomacy was gaining traction was because of the ‘credible threat of U.S. military action.’ Presumably any further diplomacy would be even more effective if Congress sent a message that it was giving Obama all options to act if the talks fail. The more plausible rationale for congressional delay is that the administration would lose the vote if it took place now.” http://politi.co/17VIRdc

JEFFREY GOLDBERG on Bloomberg View, “Why the New Syria Plan Won't Work Either”: “All Assad has to do to forever stave off a punitive strike is to keep promising that he's in the middle of giving up his chemical weapons. (No one, by the way, has addressed the fate of his biological weapons.) This is a process that could go on for months, or even years. Yes, that's right -- we might be reading stories soon about United Nations weapons inspectors roaming Syria … in a hunt for missing WMD. There are hundreds of tons of chemical munitions in Syria, and very few people think Assad would part with all of them. Why would he? Chemical weapons are a major deterrent to those outside Syria who seek his demise.” http://bloom.bg/1aBnKm5

‏ANDREW SULLIVAN, “The President Makes The Case”: “That was one of the clearest, simplest and most moving presidential speeches to the nation I can imagine. … Yes, he’s still a community organizer. It’s just that now, the community he is so effectively organizing is the world.” http://bit.ly/1ap8aqb

TOMMY VIETOR emails: “My take was that it was a very strong speech. He sounded forceful, explained the situation clearly, and outlined the stakes of the prohibition against CW use unraveling for our national security interests and our troops in the field. He also struck a deep emotional chord when he talked about the children who had been gassed. But most importantly, I think he made clear to anyone watching that he prefers a diplomatic solution, but the a diplomatic solution requires a credible threat of force.”

TOP TWEETS:

--@JonKarl: “Reminder: It was one month ago (August 7) that Pres Obama cancelled his Moscow summit with Putin”

‏--@JeffreyGoldberg: “The only action the President promised to take tonight is to send John Kerry to Switzerland.”

--@MarkKnoller: “Just noticed as I updated my log of Addresses to the Nation: Of Obama's 9 such speeches, 5 of them were on Tuesdays.”

** A message about BP's commitment to America: Over the last five years, BP has been America's largest energy investor. Each year we invest an average of $11 billion here and produce nearly enough oil, gas and renewables to light the entire country. In the process we support over 250,000 American jobs. Find out more at http://bit.ly/BP-Fuels-America. **

ALI ZELEKNO GETS DREAM JOB – NBC News President Deborah Turness announces: “Ali Zelenko joins us as Senior Vice President, NBC News Communications. In this position, Ali will serve as the chief spokesperson for NBC News, have oversight of the media relations strategy for all of NBC News’ on air and digital properties and its business initiatives and will lead my internal and external communications strategy. She joins us from Time Inc. where she served as Senior Vice President, Communications for the Time Inc. News Group. In that role, she oversaw all media relations and strategic communications for Time, Fortune, Money and CNNMoney.com … Ali also formerly served as Director of Public Relations for CNN’s Washington bureau. … Her first day official day with us will be Wednesday, September 25.”

ABOUT LAST NIGHT – CNN PRESIDENT JEFF ZUCKER hosted a party for 400 celebrating the return of “CROSSFIRE” (6:30 p.m. weeknights). Zucker and the four hosts – from the left, Stephanie Cutter and Van Jones; from the right, Newt Gingrich and S.E. Cupp – appeared briefly onstage at the Carnegie Library at Mt. Vernon Square (801 K St. NW), with a red carpet stretching out to the sidewalk. A jazz band played, and pillows in the lounge upstairs were branded "#CrossfireReturns."

NEW YORK PRIMARY – “Weiner and Spitzer lost — here’s what we learned,” by Maggie Haberman: “Of the three pols singed by sex scandal who attempted public rehabilitation this year — [Mark] Sanford, Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer — only the former South Carolina governor managed to revive his political career, winning a special election for a House seat in May. … Humility and likability are key: This is especially true of Weiner, who had a window of good will when he entered the mayor’s race … But a fresh round of lewd pictures … began a downward spiral … But equally damaging was Weiner’s defiant attitude. … [Spitzer’s] opponent, Scott Stringer, hammered Spitzer in TV ads and in direct mail over the fact that the ex-law enforcer had broken the law. Sanford, by contrast, seemed genuinely sorry. … Had Weiner or Spitzer been able to get through the primary, they would have had a real shot at winning in the general. Many Democratic voters would have found it hard to pull the lever for a Republican … [P]rimary voters passed on Weiner and Spitzer when they had the chance to vote for other Democrats with essentially the same stances on policy issues …

“Not all manner of sin is equal: … Sanford lied about his whereabouts, and used public resources to facilitate an affair with an Argentine woman. But at the end of the day, he fell in love, then left his marriage and became engaged … That seems to have made more sense to voters … [B]oth Weiner and Spitzer’s apology tours had a perfunctory, we-have-to-do-this feel. Once those were over in about a week, they drew lines around themselves … A spouse matters: … Abedin surprised many people … when she stood by Weiner’s side at a press conference when new scandal revelations emerged … That was the last time she was seen with her husband. He has been on the trail on his own since then … [Spitzer’s] wife, Silda, who had been strongly in his corner when he resigned, was not seen at all during the campaign.” http://politi.co/14EsnJn

NEW YORK MAYOR – “De Blasio tops NY mayoral primary, may face runoff,” by AP’s Jonathan Lemire: “Public Advocate Bill de Blasio completed his surge from seemingly nowhere in New York City's mayoral primary Tuesday by taking a commanding lead on his Democratic opponents Tuesday, hovering near the threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Former Metropolitan Transit Authority Chairman Joe Lhota easily won the GOP nomination, capping a chaotic primary to succeed 12 years of Mayor … Bloomberg. … With 97 percent of precincts reporting, de Blasio has about 40.2 percent of the total vote. He needs to stay above 40 percent in order to avoid triggering an automatic Oct. 1 runoff. If he cannot, he will face former city Comptroller Bill Thompson, who has 26 percent. Council Speaker Christine Quinn was third at 15 percent, followed by current city Comptroller John Liu at 7 percent and Weiner at 5 percent.

“Elections officials are going to recount the ballots cast Tuesday and are expected to count an additional 30,000 or more votes in coming days as absentee ballots arrive by mail and paperwork comes in from voters who had problems at the polls. A final result may not be known for 10 days. With de Blasio so close to 40 percent, Democratic leaders may pressure Thompson to drop out in the name of party unity. But Thompson made it clear Tuesday that he wanted to contest the runoff. … Exit polling shows that de Blasio would handily defeat Thompson in a runoff, 52 to 34 percent, with 9 percent saying they'd stay home.”

--HOW DE BLASIO DID IT – N.Y. Times’ Michael Barbaro: Bill “de Blasio’s improbable ascent in the Democratic mayor’s race, from afterthought to front-runner in just four weeks, looked meteoric and spontaneous. … [I]t required shrewd maneuvers and hardball politics that seemed incongruous with the candidate’s high-minded image: sidelining the Rev. Al Sharpton, who could have ignited the passion of black voters for William. C. Thompson Jr., the sole African-American candidate in the race, and making the case to the city’s powerful health care workers’ union that their longtime ally, John C. Liu, was doomed to fail. Underlying it all was a message of indignant liberalism, sketched out by Mr. de Blasio … that was simple, sellable and penetrating enough to transcend class, gender and race. … From the start, Mr. de Blasio understood the perils of running an anti-establishment campaign against a capable and generally well-regarded incumbent: In large numbers, Democrats in New York approved of the job that Mr. Bloomberg was doing, and thought the city was on the right track.

“But over drinks at Friend of a Farmer cafe in Gramercy Park last summer, Mr. de Blasio told his chief media strategist and ad maker that he saw no alternative, given his history as an activist and record of assailing the mayor. ‘It would be phony of me to be anything but a critic,’ Mr. de Blasio told the strategist, John Del Cecato. He assembled an inner circle with a history of electing insurgent-style Democrats. Mr. Del Cecato had worked on the Obama campaign in 2008. The de Blasio campaign manager, Bill Hyers, ran Michael A. Nutter’s come-from-behind bid for mayor of Philadelphia in 2007. And Jonathan Rosen, a communications strategist, shaped the victory of Eric T. Schneiderman in the 2010 race for New York State attorney general. .. Furniture was not bought, it was salvaged from Craigslist, free. Broken ceiling tiles were not fixed, they were left crumbling on the floor. …

“The austerity even extended to campaign literature. … In July, when the campaign staff met, its members rejected that idea, deciding against sending out a single piece of mail and pouring that money into television — a decision even Mr. de Blasio’s director of mail endorsed, at no small cost to his business. The penny-pinching worked. Mr. de Blasio accomplished something almost unimaginable in a race in which every candidate abided by the same spending cap: he outspent his nearest competitor by about $200,000 on TV ads. His biggest buy and most talked-about commercial … was [a] tribute from his son, Dante, known for his towering Afro. It was downloaded 100,000 times before it was even advertised online and was watched well beyond the five boroughs, including by 2,000 people in Texas. It marked a crucial moment for Mr. de Blasio: he had begun to assert ownership over the volatile issue of the stop-and-frisk tactic, which Mr. de Blasio’s aides knew from focus groups was roiling the city’s African-American neighborhoods.” http://nyti.ms/15V4bg6

N.Y. HEADLINES: N.Y. Times 4-col. lead (New York Edition), “DE BLASIO FIRST IN MAYORAL RACE, NEAR 40% NEEDED TO AVOID RUNOFF: LHOTA FOR G.O.P. -- Thompson Running in 2nd Place Among Democrats” (A1 sidebars: “Luck and a Shrewd Strategy Fueled [de Blasio] Ascension” … “Lhota Hopes to Capitalize on Wall St. Dismay Over Liberal Tilt”) … WSJ, banner of “Greater New York” section, “Widespread Support Lifts de Blasio … A New Election Calculus: Broad Coalitions, Reflecting City’s Makeup, Lift Campaigns … Stringer Stops Spitzer Comeback” … Newsday cover: “ SUOZZI WINS” (“Thomas Suozzi, a former two-term Nassau County executive, defeated businessman Adam Haber late last night in the Democratic primary, setting the stage for a rematch with Republican County Executive Edward Mangano in the November general election.”)

NATIONAL IMPLICATIONS IN COLORADO BACKLASH AGAINST GUN CONTROL – Denver Post’s Lynn Bartels, Kurtis Lee and Joey Bunch: “An epic national debate over gun rights in Colorado on Tuesday saw two Democratic state senators ousted for their support for stricter laws, a ‘ready, aim, fired’ message intended to stop other politicians for pushing for firearms restrictions. Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron will be replaced in office with Republican candidates who petitioned onto the recall ballot. … The National Rifle Association … donated about $360,000 to support the recalls.” http://bit.ly/1apSdQA

--L.A. Times’ Mark Z. Barabak: “The laws limit gun magazines to 15 rounds and require universal background checks, to be paid for by the gun purchaser, among other restrictions. … [T]he results could still resonate well beyond the Rockies. The national gun debate has always been less about numbers than the passions of a relatively small but fervent group of activists, and both sides invested heavily in the campaign, knowing the message the outcome would send. … What began as a local effort … quickly gained national attention once the recall question was cleared in mid-July for the ballot, drawing advocates on both sides hoping to either frighten or fortify lawmakers nationwide who might be considering similar legislation.

“The National Rifle Assn. and its allies faced gun control supporters led by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg … Groups with other interests invested heavily as well, including organized labor, Planned Parenthood and the conservative Koch brothers, turning the contest into a wide-ranging free-for-all that surpassed, in Colorado, even the intensity of the 2012 presidential contest.” http://lat.ms/1apSL90

MORNING SURF: NewYorker.com, over column by satirist Andy Borowitz: “Kerry Shocked to Be Taken Seriously.” http://nyr.kr/1ap40id

ASSAD INTERVIEW BACKSTORY:

--“CBS News says it almost gave up on Assad interview,” by AP TV Writer David Bauder: “CBS News had essentially given up its pursuit of Syrian President Bashar Assad for an interview because he would not agree to go on ‘60 Minutes,’ until Charlie Rose suggested airing it on PBS. CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager, who accompanied Rose to Damascus, … said Assad and his team would not go on ‘60 Minutes’ because they wanted to have a say how the interview would be edited, and CBS refused. Assad opted for a longer airing on PBS on Monday night. The interview was a coup for Rose, who was pursuing it for CBS since last spring. It was the Syrian president's first TV interview with a U.S. outlet since he spoke to Barbara Walters of ABC News in December 2011, and came as President Barack Obama and Congress are considering a military response to Assad's purported use of chemical weapons in an attack against rebel forces. ‘I've never received so much feedback for a single interview,’ Rose said …

“Rose, who is host of ‘CBS This Morning’ in addition to his own PBS interview show, landed the interview with a promise that PBS would air the talk at the same length as an interview Rose had done with President Barack Obama this summer. … PBS aired the interview in prime time on most stations, bumping ‘Antiques Roadshow.’ It was seen by an estimated 1.2 million people, according to the Nielsen company, or less than half the typical audience for the antiques show. CBS has a much bigger footprint: An estimated 9.3 million people watched a repeat episode of ‘60 Minutes’ on Sunday. … [I]n response to a Rose question about stockpiles of chemical weapons, Assad said, ‘We don't say yes, we don't say no.’ …

“CBS first aired portions of the Assad interview on ‘CBS This Morning’ on Monday, continuing on Tuesday. Although it missed the deadline for "60 Minutes" last week, a story will air on the interview this weekend, Fager said. CBS found itself in an odd situation with its flagship ‘CBS Evening News’ on Monday. … [T]he evening news was pre-empted on all but the West Coast by CBS Sports' telecast of the U.S. Open men's tennis finals. The network posted [Scott] Pelley's [Obama] interview online at 6 p.m. Eastern and cut into the tennis match for a two-minute report on the Obama interview.” http://bit.ly/1egddOJ

--Hollywood Reporter, “Inside Charlie Rose's Five-Month Booking Effort to Land Bashar al-Assad Interview,” by Marisa Guthrie: “CBS News chairman Jeff Fager, … who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, traveled with Rose to Damascus to produce the interview, which aired Monday on CBS News and PBS' Charlie Rose program. … A skilled communicator who conducts his interviews in English, Assad repeatedly characterized the rebels as ‘Al Qaeda’ and ‘terrorists’ … Rose previously interviewed Assad in 2006 and 2010. … Rose and CBS News producers began pursuing Assad more than five months ago … It was the first U.S. television interview for Assad since ABC's Barbara Walters … in December 2011. … It was … a coup for a news division that has staked out hard-news territory – sometimes to the detriment of ratings points – and dedicated considerable resources to the conflict in Syria. Correspondent Clarissa Ward was the first American journalist to broadcast live from inside rebel-controlled territory in Syria in December 2011 and Elizabeth Palmer is still reporting from inside Syria.

“Rose and Fager left New York last Friday night, arriving in Beirut, Lebanon on Saturday morning and then making the drive to Damascus, which took about six hours due to numerous security check points. They traveled in a beat-up car and without a security detail. And while they were provided with bullet-proof vests and gas masks, they did not use either.” http://bit.ly/13KAZLS

FIRST LOOK: NOW IN TIMES SQUARE – Heritage release: “The Heritage Foundation … unveiled a mammoth billboard in the heart of New York City. … ‘Warning: Obamacare may be hazardous to your health.’ Inspired by health warnings from the U.S. Surgeon General, the billboard encourages passersby in the Times Square area to get more information by texting the word ‘HAZARD” to 33733. … Located on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, [the billboard] is 67 feet long … 90 feet high … will run until October 13. … President Jim DeMint said the organization was inspired to make the ‘for us, unprecedented foray into “big city advertising”’ by the success of a … nine-city, ‘Stop Obamacare’ tour … by the organization’s advocacy wing, Heritage Action for America.” See the billboard. http://bit.ly/1apRz5F

BUSINESS BURST – “Dow Jones index announces biggest shake-up in a decade,” by Reuters’ Rodrigo Campos: “In the biggest shake-up of the Dow Jones industrial average in nearly a decade, Goldman Sachs, Visa and Nike will join the storied 30-stock index, with Bank of America, which just two years ago was the largest U.S. bank by assets, one of the names exiting the Dow. The three newcomers -- an investment bank, credit card payment processor and apparel company, respectively -- will also replace Alcoa, in the index since 1959, and Hewlett-Packard Co.”

SPORTS BLINK – “NFL counts for 7 of week's most-watched TV shows,” by AP Television Writer David Bauder: “Peyton Manning's seven-touchdown attack on Thursday brought 25.1 million viewers to the season-opening Baltimore-Denver game, while 25.4 million people watched Sunday's game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. Viewership was similar for the opening games last year: Sunday night's game was down slightly from 2012 while the Thursday kickoff was up this year. Seven of the 10 most-watched programs last week were either the two football games, highlights packages from opening week games or pregame shows, Nielsen said. … Two college football games - Notre Dame vs. Michigan and South Carolina vs. Georgia - landed among Nielsen's top 20 shows last week. … ESPN was the week's most popular cable network, averaging 2.7 million viewers in prime time. … ABC's ‘World News’ had the closest showing to its rival in viewers since September 2012. NBC's show averaged 7.8 million, ABC had 7.6 million and the ‘CBS Evening News’ had 6.1 million.

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